Perpetrate and perpetuate look similar, but they do different jobs.
Perpetrate means to commit, usually a harmful, immoral, or illegal act. It often appears with words like crime, fraud, violence, or abuse. Example: The gang was accused of perpetrating several robberies.
Perpetuate means to cause something to continue. What continues might be a belief, problem, stereotype, tradition, or cycle. Example: Careless reporting can perpetuate false rumors.
A useful memory trick is this: if you mean commit an act, choose perpetrate. If you mean keep something going, choose perpetuate.
- Perpetrate: The scammer was caught perpetrating fraud.
- Perpetuate: That policy may perpetuate inequality.
Because both words are formal and share similar spelling, writers often swap them by mistake. The easiest fix is to ask what the sentence means. Is someone doing a harmful act, or is something being allowed to continue? The answer tells you which word fits.